For investors, the second quarter of 2003 was all they asked for. The nostalgia rally. Why the current three months are not likely to see a repeat performance.

WHAT A DREAM OF a quarter. The three months winding up today. At least on Wall Street, this was an absolute storybook stretch, happy ending and all. Who but the hopelessly dyspeptic or the insatiably greedy wouldn't yearn for another one just like it?

Now, it's true, and we'd be the last to deny it, that in the real world, the span was perhaps somewhat less than idyllic. Well, yes, if you insist, we'll grant on occasion it was more nightmarish than dreamy. On that score, to cite the most notable example, a funny thing --...